Software components typically communicate with each other directly through application programming interfaces or application binary interfaces. Such interfaces define the ways in which other components can invoke and interact with a given component. Application programming interfaces are a different type of interface relative to application binary interfaces, although both are avenues through which one component can interact with another component. When components are programmed in different languages they are almost always compiled or interpreted using different compilers and interpreters. This can lead to situations where the interoperability between components is hindered.
For example, components in a library may have been written in C or C++, while components calling into the library may have been written in JavaScript or some other language. The library may have a set of constructs (types, functions, methods, etc.) that are associated with its programming language, but that may create a mismatch when those components interact with other components written in a different language with different constructs. Run-time errors and other irregularities may be kicked-off in such circumstances.
Some solutions to this problem include manually coding the appropriate application programming interface or application binary interface into the source code of the calling components, although this can be tedious and prone to errors. Moreover, maintaining such code to keep up with changes to the component interfaces is a monumental task that unnecessarily consumes development resources.
To alleviate these and other challenges, language-specific dispatchers have been developed that allow a component written in one language to successfully call a component written in another language. For instance, a component written in C# may include a C#-specific dispatcher that runs in the same process and that can interact with a target component. In a separate process associated with a different component written in C++, for example, a separate C++-specific dispatcher may run that can also interact with the target process, and so on for components running in other processes.